Snowed In? Oh Well, There's Always Facebook.

I just got a notice that my 8:50pm flight to Louisville has been delayed until 11:30pm. Buuuuuuuuuuut, I should still get there by 8pm, so that I can get a comfy seat for my nearly three hour wait. (And that's assuming that my plane actually takes off.)

I should be annoyed by this, but I'm really not. I have a good book to take with me ("American Gods" by Neil Gaiman) and the final two Alan Moore, Swamp Thing graphic novels. And a full ipod of music, Venture Brothers episodes and podcasts to keep me entertained. If all else fails, I can lean up against a wall somewhere and catch some z's, at least until the snoring alerts security and they send someone see what the deafening racket is.

I'm fine with the delay. The great big fat snowflakes that are covering my city in a big, white blanket right now doesn't mean to do me any harm. It just is. Snow just snows. There's not too much to be said beyond that.

And there are worst places to be, than busily occupied in an American airport. Like, work, for example. Being at work would be worse. Being buried alive under an avalanche would be worse. Pompei, looking up at an erupting Vesuvius would be worse. Or pushing through a high-rise plate glass window to prove to an intern how strong it is, would be worse. All things considered, I don't mind the airport. I don't mind the delay.

The holiday has officially begun, when I walk out this door. This is cause to celebrate.

If I owned a laptop, I could spend my idle time, farting around on Teh Facebook. Of which I am now a member. After a friend (Brandy) talked to me about it today, I decided to join the damned thing. She said, "You'll see so many people on there that you haven't seen in a while" and I do. I think I have 80+ friends right now, with more trickling in from the 300 contacts in my email contacts list. People pop up and write a funny message on my "wall" and then disappear again. My friends are a strange mix of Chicago Friends and High School Friends and College Friends. Three distinctive phases of my life, blending together in some sort of surreal, chronologically-dissonent, massive cocktail party. The girl that I used to drool over in high school is "friends" with me, right next to the girl that I drool over, these days. Former teachers. Former enemies. Former Lovers. Current friends. All mashed together in a hodge-podge of faces and cryptic messages "Remember me from high school? We didn't really talk much. But I remember you." As I said, it's strange to be a participant in this whole, robust online community. There are all new rules of engagement to learn, new mistakes to make (What do you MEAN that message I wrote on your Wall was publicly posted?!?) new levels of non-communication to negotiate.

It would've made a great time waster, while at the airport. And a good ending to a day that started out weird. This morning, while riding the bus to work, I called and contacted an old high school/ college buddy, Alan K. There's a gathering on Friday, after Christmas at Kevins house for old Western alums. We decided that we should try to get Alan there and an internet search for his phone number lead to his brothers house and his brothers wife gave me his cell phone number and we actually talked on the phone for twenty minutes, at work today. Alan is going to try to make the party on Friday. I hope he does. It will be good to connect with him again after an 11 year absence.

Today has been a day for re-connecting with the ghosts from the past.
For forgiving myself for who I am today, as compared to who they thought I was, then.
This sounds totally gayballz, but I'll say it anyways. The whole time, today, that I've been diving deep into my past, on teh Facebook, I've been thinking about Benjamin Button and how steadily and maturely, he navigated the forces of his life. The things you can't take back.
The things you wished you'd done.
The people you've crossed lives with.
The places you've been.
The person you used to be.

I've been confronting all of those things with a steadiness and a reassurance of self that I normally don't have. I accept who I am now. I accept who I was before. I forgive myself for the dumb things I did in the past. I forgive the people who did cruel things to me.

From this perspective, everybody you meet or have met is your "friend".

Something to mull over as I pass the minutes and hours in Chicago's Midway airport.

Go Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Now.

Cheers,
Mr.B